


Put Us Back Together Right

by loonyBibliophile



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, FitzSimmons Secret Santa, holiday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 19:23:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5552237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonyBibliophile/pseuds/loonyBibliophile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Simmons is feeling homesick as the holidays approach, and Fitz finds a way to surprise her. </p><p>Written for notlovenotalways for the 2015 Fitzsimmons Secret Santa exchange, for the prompt "Sometime in the future after Will is rescued, Fitz and Jemma are granted leave and go visit their parents in Glasgow and Sheffield."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Put Us Back Together Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [notlovenotalways](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notlovenotalways/gifts).



Despite the silence of the winter snowfall outside, the inside of the base is as busy as ever. After all, SHIELD does not rest for the holiday season. Simmons stands in the hallway outside the lab, cycling through the fake windows, looking for something festive and cheerful. In the end, she just has to settle for midday snowfall, and sighs quietly. She was still struggling to get back into the swing of things. It hadn’t been easy, recovering from her time on the planet, especially after she’d had to return to it, along with Fitz, and rescue Will. An awkward handful of weeks had followed, with Will reacclimating to earth in the medical bay, and Fitz tip toeing around the whole situation, avoiding both of them.

Simmons had known he was trying to give them space to be whatever they were, but she had quickly grown tired of Fitz’s absurd idea that she would pick a man she barely knew, however much she cared for him and however much he’d helped her survive, over her best friend of over a decade. So when Will was cleared to go home, Simmons had asked Fitz to help her escort him off the base. He’d balked, and then shouted a bit about being a third wheel, until she found the time to explain she wanted him along so they could have time off the base to go on a proper date. Things had gone more smoothly after that. 

But now, after everything they had both gone through the past three years and with the holidays swiftly approaching, she found herself sorely homesick. She yearned to be able to go home for Christmas. See her mum and dad, her sisters and her brothers. Bring Fitz home again, this time as her boyfriend, and not just her best friend. Her mother would be ecstatic, the woman had been harping on Simmons about ‘not letting that adorable engineer get snapped up’ ever since she first met him years and years before. But after missing her services for months while she was gone, in recovery, and then aiding Will in his, there was no way Coulson would give leave for her to go home, let alone take Fitz with her, pulling them both out of comission for at least a week. 

“Hey.” Fitz called out from around the corner, sure to announce his presence from a reasonable distance. “What’re you doing over here?”

“Missing real snow.” Simmons gravitated back towards him, resting her head on his chest. 

“There’s real snow right outside.” 

“I know…”

“But it’s not the same. I understand.”

“Just a bit homesick, I suppose. Christmas coming up and all. With everything that’s happened it would just… be nice to see Mum and Dad. I know they don’t… don’t know what’s been going on, but I do.” 

“I know. I miss home too, Jem.” he spoke softly, trying to keep anyone from overhearing. Simmons didn’t even have it in her to chide him for using his silly nickname during work hours. 

“Maybe next year we can get a week’s leave. Go see your mum, and my whole mess of a family.”

“Why not this year?”

“Please, Fitz. As if Coulson would give us leave on so little notice, after I’ve been useless for so long.” 

“Hey. You’re not useless.”

“You know what I mean.” 

“Yeah… I s’pose you’re right.” he assented, hesitantly. But he already had a plan forming in his mind, so he kissed the top of Simmons head, and headed off. 

It was only the next day when Fitz knocked on Simmons’ door, surprisingly early. For Fitz, at any rate. Simmons, however, was already dressed and prepared for the day, having been up for around two hours at that point. 

“Fitz?” she tilted her head when she opened the door to see him standing there, holding a red envelope in his hands. 

“I’ve got you an early Christmas gift.” he grins, broad and playful, and hands her the envelope as he walks into her room, settling easily onto the edge of her bed. 

“Fitz, it’s days until Christmas.”

“That’s why it’s early, you goose. Now open it, go on.” 

Rolling her eyes at him, Simmons gingerly slid a finger under the flap of the envelope to pry it open. Inside, there was a plain piece of white paper, wrapped around something. She unfolded it, and once she saw what was in the envelope, she turned to gape at Fitz. 

“Fitz?”

“I talked to Coulson.” he shrugged easily. “May helped. I think she’d have rather you took time off ages ago, to be honest. When I told her I wanted to get some leave so we could go home for the holidays, she looked the closest to visibly relieved I’ve ever seen her. I figure we’ll take the train to Glasgow late on Christmas day. You’ve got a bigger family than I do, it makes sense to spend the holiday there, and then we can stay with my mum a few days, get some real rest, since your massive family will make that impossible.” 

“Fitz…” Simmons managed before she lunged forward to catch him in a tight hug, pressing her face into his neck. “Thank you.” she murmurs, and he feels the words against his skin more than he hears her speak them. He rubs her spine with his thumb and nods.

“Anything for you, Jem, you know that.” his smile is gentle but broad when she finally lifts her head and presses a brief, chaste kiss to his lips in thanks. 

“Well, my mother will be thrilled I’ve finally managed to ‘seal the deal’ with you, as she says when she’s had just a touch too much sherry.” 

“I’ll put up with your mother fussing over us as long as your promise not to balk when my mum starts talking about grandkids. Or ‘wee bairns’ as she would say.” 

“God, can we both agree it’s far far too early to contemplate having children?”

“Abso bloody lutely. Even if we decided we wanted to, neither of us are in any sort of shape or situation right now to even consider reproduction.” 

“I love you, Fitz.” Simmons beams at him, and she leans up to kiss him again. “So when do we leave?”

“Two days from now. So we’ve a week with your family before and during Christmas, and a week with my mom afterwards.”

“Sounds lovely. We’ll have to stop and pick up some gifts before going to my house… Maybe I can get some baking done here before we go, have something to bring my parents, and while we’re there, whip something up to bring your mum.”

“She is especially fond of your gingersnaps”

“Yes, well, you had to get your awful sweet tooth from somewhere.” Simmons smiled, teasingly. 

“Oh hush you.”

The next two days were a flurry of packing and relieved sighs. Fitz and Simmons were doing the packing, the relieved sighs were from their teammates, glad the two seemed to finally be catching a break. Simmons spent nearly the whole day before they left in the kitchen, whipping up a few batches of Christmas cookies with a cookie press she’d asked Fitz to jerryrig for her. One batch was left behind for everyone at the base, and another was carefully packed in parchment paper and tupperware for the trip.

“Fitz, stop fussing.” Simmons chided gently, pulling his hands into her own as they sat in the back of the taxi from the airport to the family home in Sheffield. “You’ve been to Christmas with us before, during uni and the academy.” 

“Yeah but back then I was just your best friend.”

“Oh please, Fitz. We were never really just best friends. Plus, you and I both know my whole family will be thrilled.”

“It’s the principle of the thing.” Fitz said with a huff, but quieted when Simmons chuckled and kissed his cheek. Tires crunching on snow, the taxi pulled up to the curb, revealing the modest Simmons house. Simmons lit up when she saw the snow covered wreath on the door, a few tasteful strands of lit Christmas lights on the eaves, and clutched Fitz’s hands before sliding out of the car. While she rushed to the door, Fitz paid the driver and grabbed their bags. The Simmons didn’t know they were coming home, and she was eager to surprise the folks. Fitz hovered behind her on the steps as Simmons rung the bell. A moment later her mum, Helen, opened the door and promptly dropped the bowl of popcorn she was holding.

“Jemma! Jemma, my darling!” she called, reaching out to pull Simmons into a hug. Hearing her shouting, the whole family swiftly filed in. Michael, Simmons’ father, her younger sister Lily, Lily’s boyfriend, and their two little girls, and Charles, the baby of the family and her younger brother.

“Auntie Jemma! And Uncle Fitz!” Elizabeth, the younger of Lily’s two girls and often called Bitsy, rushed around Helen to hug her aunt. The next several minutes were a veritable cacophony of name calling and happy crying and hugging and loud questions. When things finally settled, Helen waved the others away and the two of them inside. 

“Take a seat on the sofa, you two, I’ll put the kettle on. Michael, clean up the popcorn and get some more on the stove would you? We’ll never get those garlands done otherwise.” 

Helen was so distracted by the hustle and bustle of their unexpected guests, she almost didn’t notice Fitz and Simmons locking their fingers together as they settled into the sofa, even more into each other’s personal space than the family was used to. 

“Wait just a moment!” Helen pointed at the both of them. “Jemma Beatrice Simmons! Do you have something to tell us?”

“Yes, mum. I do, in fact. Fitz and I we’re.. well. Together.”

A chorus of ‘finally’ and ‘it’s about bloody time’ and ‘oh thank goodness’ filled the room, leading Fitz and Simmons to both blush heavily. 

“I’m so happy for you. And I can’t wait to hear all about it. Well, as much as my two favorite spies are allowed to tell me.” Helen beamed and leaned forward, pinching both of their cheeks. 

“Mum, we’re not spies.”

“Oh, I know dear, just let an old girl have fun.”

“Auntie Jemma? Does this mean Fitz is going to be our real uncle now?” Minnie, the other of Lily’s daughters, clambered up onto Simmons’ lap, while Bitsy forced her way between Simmons and Fitz. 

“I think it’s a bit soon for that, Min.” Fitz chuckled, embarrassed, just as Simmons colored and mumbled a “Yes, someday, I think.” 

“Get in here, you two!” Michael called, his voice echoing jovially from the kitchen “Help us string this popcorn for the tree! You can tell us how you finally got together, while you’re at it!”

The Simmons family wiles away the rest of the night stringing popcorn and cranberries, gathered around the weathered kitchen table. Simmons feels the last of the tension she’s been carrying for over a year start to drain from her shoulders as she looks around the bustling kitchen. Mugs of tea and coffee and cocoa are scattered every which where, her whole family is smiling and laughing, Bing Crosby is playing, and Fitz is seated beside her, her feet in his lap. smiling at her adoringly as he strings popcorn and tries to avoid being hit with the cranberries Minnie and Bitsy are throwing at each other gleefully. As it nears ten pm, Lily shuffles the girls off to bed in one of the guest rooms, closely following herself to doze off with her husband. Simmons, her parents, Fitz, and Charles stay up awhile longer, sipping brandy and catching up, until out of the corner of her eye, Simmons can see all the talking and stringing wearing on Fitz. 

“Well, we’ve had a long day of travel, so I think we’ll head to bed.” Simmons rises to her feet and grabs Fitz’s arm, tugging him along with her. Cheeks are kissed, hugs are exchanged, and good nights are said. It’s a few minutes before midnight, and when the clock strikes twelve it will be Christmas Eve. Simmons and Fitz pause a minute on their journey from the kitchen to Simmons’ room, hovering in the living room before the tree. It’s a real tree, the family wouldn’t have it any other way, and it’s lit up beautifully and covered with antique jewel toned ornaments that have been passed through the family. 

“Thank you.” Simmons whispered, her voice almost reverent, as she turns from the tree to Fitz, kissing him softly.

“You deserved a happy Christmas.”

“Any Christmas with you is happy, Fitz. This is… above and beyond. This is perfect.”

“You deserve that too.” his voice is soft in the hush of the late hour, starlight and christmas lights glittering on the fresh now through the window beyond the tree. The clock ticks twelve in the corner of the room, and Fitz leans forward, kissing her again, slowly and sweetly. “Happy Christmas, Jemma Beatrice Simmons.” 

“Happy Christmas, Leopold Alexander Fitz.” 

The next morning, the pair are awoken a little after eight by Lily’s daughters barrelling into the room shouting about it being Christmas Eve and to hurry up, it was time for Christmas Eve breakfast and no one could eat until everyone was there.

The breakfast was the pleasantest either of them had had in ages. Pancakes, waffles, plenty of whip cream and strawberries and bacon. Everyone made fun of Simmons for dipping her bacon in syrup, just like always, and Fitz ate his weight twice over. The big breakfast was an essential tradition to the Simmons, because they had a lot of other traditions, and the day would be very busy. First breakfast, then family baking and cookie decorating, then even more extended family came over to go caroling in the small town most of them lived near, then the party at the medical office Helen and Michael both worked out of, then a long walk in the fading sunlight to watch the various decorations be lit, and then last but not least, music and brandy and hot cocoa and sparklers in the back garden until the stroke of midnight, when every family member would open one gift before shuffling, or being carried, off to bed. Fitz had taken part in this series of rituals a great many times, and it was one of his very favorite things in the world. Namely because of how, especially this year after everything they’d seen, how it made Simmons light up. While they were curled into a hammock in the garden, sipping brandy and waving sparklers and shouting off key carols, he’d watched her sparkle, shine, and smile in a way she hadn’t in months. Maybe years. She looked younger than she had since she leapt out of the plane. His chest and stomach glowed with warmth, and it wasn’t the alcohol. 

Just after midnight, everyone was gathered around the tree, all at varying degrees of drunkenness and wakefulness. Simmons was curled up on Fitz’s lap on the floor by the tree, leaning into his chest. 

“Auntie and uncle next, auntie and uncle next!” Minnie cried, clapping enthusiastically while clutching her new stuffed pony. 

“Okay Minnie darling, we’ll go next.” Simmons smiled and chuckled sleepily, reaching over to the tree. “Here, Fitzy, open one of my gifts.” she smiled, and pressed a small rectangular box into his hands. 

“Then you can open one of mine as well.” Fitz leaned around her and snagged an even smaller square box, placing it in Simmons’ lap.

“You first.” Simmons smiled and shifted slightly, giving him room to unwrap the gift. 

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” he tore through the paper enthusiastically, and then pulled the top off the box within. Inside it there was a rather modern and elaborate watch. Fitz quirked an eyebrow. 

“It’s not just a watch, obviously. I had a bit of help from Daisy, and Mack as well. It’s a micro computer with GPS, and programmed to interact with the chip pendant you gave me years back, allowing us to activate locational sonar in case… in case we get separated in the field. If you change the screens, it also tracks the stars and planets.” Simmons beamed, and blushed slightly. 

“It’s perfect, Jem. Thank you.” he kissed the top of her head. “Go on now.” he nodded at his gift to her. As always, she opened it slowly, careful not to tear the paper anymore than necessary, even as she could feel Fitz rolling his eyes at her. Her jaw dropped, just slightly, when she revealed a velvet clamshell box beneath the paper. Her family’s eyes lit up, and her sister gasped quietly. 

“Fitz…?”

“Open it, Jemma.”

Simmons pried the box open, almost reverently, and a hand drifted up to her mouth in shock when she opened it. It was a ring, as she’d expected, but not just any ring. It was clearly of Fitz’s own design and craftsmanship. Three glittering round cut stones rested on a silver band. The central stone was a deep, unearthly blue, and seemed to have tiny sparkles suspended it in, like stars. The orange were a soft golden orange that reminded her of the rising sun. 

“The diamonds are lab grown, but real. And they are diamonds, I wanted to use them because they’re the strongest stone, but I wanted lab-grown so they were cruelty free, and I had them colored because I know you’ve always found clear stones a bit boring.” 

“Fitz?” she said, again, even quieter this time . 

“It… it doesn’t have to be an engagement ring, if you don’t want it to be. It can be a promise ring, or simply a gift of love from someone who cares for you very much but… I wanted to give it to you. The band is um. It’s made from titanium from one of the fixtures in our first lab I kept. I melted it down and forged it.”

“It… it’s beautiful, Fitz. And it um…” she swallowed, blushing “If it was intended to be, it can be an engagement ring…” 

Her family stared on in excited silence, waiting to see what happened next. 

“Oh. Um. In that case.” Fitz blushed, and shifted out from under Simmons, moving to kneel in front of her, clasping both of her hands in his own. “Jemma Simmons. You have been my very best friend since we were partnered together for that lab. I don’t know when I fell in love with you. Maybe I always was. Maybe this was an inevitability, or maybe we chose this, somewhere along the way, without even noticing. I don’t care. All I care about is that I love you, and I want to be with you long after our atoms have died and become something new, but still together, because if there is anything sure in the cosmos. It’s you and I. Will you marry me?”

“Of course I’ll marry you, Leopold Fitz.” she grasped his face between both of her hands and kissed him as soundly as she dared with her whole family in the room. 

“Oh, I’m so happy for the two of you!” Helen swiped surreptitiously at her eyes and clutched her husband’s hands, who simply nodded. 

“Isn’t this a bit soon?” Charles piped up, only to be smacked soundly by Lily.

“Oh, hush up you ninny. They’ve only been pining after each other for ten years. Besides, you should hardly be doling out romantic advice.” she sniffed, and wiped away an errant happy tear. Minnie and Bitsy kept up a rousing but sleepy chant of ‘Uncle Fitz! Uncle Fitz!’ 

“Well now, I think it’s more than time for bed for everyone, wouldn’t you agree darling?” Helen offered, sliding her eyes towards the starry-eyed Fitz and Simmons and then to her husband meaningfully. 

“Oh! Oh, yes, I do. Everyone off to bed, especially you, little ones.”

Taking the hint, everyone shuffled off to their rooms, including Fitz and Simmons, who vanished into Simmons’ room as quickly as possible, without causing suspicion. 

“I can’t believe you proposed.” Simmons said, her voice quiet and awestruck as she marvelled at the ring on her finger. 

“I can’t believe you said yes.” 

“Of course I said yes! I love you!” she glanced over at him, grinned, and then softened. “I love you.” she repeated, her voice gentler, and she wrapped her arms around him tightly, and he leaned down to kiss her. 

“I love you too, future Mrs. Fitz-Simmons.”

She sighed happily against his lips, leaning into him as closely as she could. Ever since they’d added a more physical side to their relationship, Simmons couldn’t be close enough to him. She’d been so afraid of being close to him for so long, so afraid of what might or might now happen, that now she couldn’t get enough. Carpe diem, as they say. Seize the day. Or better yet, seize the bum of your very cute Scottish genius boyfriend. 

Grinning into her kiss, Fitz pulled Simmons even closer, running his fingers through her hair and making her shiver delightedly. She pulled his lip gently between her teeth, and felt him stifle a groan. 

“Jemma… we can’t fool around in your childhood bedroom on Christmas in a house choc full of your extended family…” 

“Says who?”

“Common decency?”

“And since when is anything about us common?”

“Mm, you make a compelling point. Would you care to elaborate?” Fitz wiggles his eyebrows playfully, and Simmons giggles as she moves to kiss him again, and tug him towards her bed. He follows happily, leaning over her as they settle into the pillows sighing against her lips as she runs her fingers through his curls. He nibbles at her lip this time, relishing in the breathy sigh in pulls from her lips. The night proceeds in a series of hushed moans and giggles, whispering bed sheets, and soft sighs, ending with two sets of limbs tangled into one.

The rest of their week with Simmons’ family passed in a blur. Before either of them knew it, they were half asleep on the train to Glasgow, where they’d wait for Fitz’s mum to come pick them up and drive them to her house just outside the city. 

“When are we going to tell your mum?” Simmons asked, her voice still sleepy as she stretched the crampedness of the train car out of her limbs. 

“Once we get to the house, I think. The car just seems… informal or something.” 

“And you’re sure she’ll be alright with it?”

“Jemma, you goose, my mum loves you. You’re already part of the family. Now it will just be more official.” 

“It’s the same for you, you know.” 

“I know, Jem.”

“I know nothing has changed, not really but… it all feels very different, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. It does. But good different, I think.”

“Very good different.” Simmons beamed broadly, leaning over to kiss Fitz’s cheek as his mum’s car pulled into view

“Are you ready?” Fitz asked, two parts playful, one part serious.

“Of course I’m ready.” she smiled lovingly “We’re together”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this turned out quite different than originally intended, but I hope you like it! I may end up writing a sequel of them at Fitz's mothers and then back at the base, I intended to just include them, but finals and the holidays took more time away from me than I anticipated.


End file.
